Oakdale City Council members breezed through a concise agenda in an hour-long meeting on Monday night, Sept. 16.

After honoring the city’s police and fire departments for their assistance at the Rim Fire earlier this month, the council heard public comments which included Fire Captain Louie Morua addressing the dais on department staffing.

Morua mentioned that in addition to the Rim Fire, the department had assisted in mutual aid at two other fires leading up to September.

Morua also read the department’s mission statement and core values.

“We need to think about that to complete our mission,” Morua said in reference to providing a high standard of service. “If we lay off or reduce staff, we will greatly risk our citizens and staff.”

The council then got to business on agenda items and approved rezoning of a West F Street address to accommodate a veterinary office move.

The move allows local veterinarian Mel Tanner to relocate from his South First Avenue address into a facility with more space and parking.

The council also authorized the city manager to extend the agreement with Stanislaus Consolidated Fire District and Oakdale Rural Fire District for shared staffing through January 2014.

Chief Brian Kelly told the council that the extension of the agreement, which has been in effect since September 2010, “bridges the gap” until a more permanent solution is in place.

At the last meeting the council approved the go ahead for a study of the city’s fire department to be absorbed by Stanislaus Consolidated Fire.

“This move would have nothing to do with the proposed reorganization,” Kelly said.

City Manager Bryan Whitemyer requested authorization to complete the 2010 water management plan. The cost of the plan is $45,000.

The city is mandated by the state to do a water management plan every five years. The last plan completed by Oakdale covered water data through 2005. According to Whitemyer, the data through 2010 has been available for quite some time and the report for that period is overdue.

The city also approved a contract to Lawrence Backhoe Services for $79,555 to upgrade water meters.

Whitemyer reported that the upgrade would allow the city to read meters monthly for more accurate billing.

The final item was regarding the redevelopment agency successor agency and included submission of paperwork that would allow for repayment of city loans under the former redevelopment agency that was dissolved by Governor Brown in February 2012.